Plastic box magazine with a top metallic clamping member



May 21, 1968 H. A. INTO PLASTIC BOX MAGAZINE WITH A TOP METALLIC CLAMPING MEMBER Filed May 16, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 HENRY A. INTO ATTORNEY H. A. INTO May 21, 1968 PLASTIC BOX MAGAZINE WITH A TOP METALLIC CLAMPING MEMBER 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed May 16, 1967 INVENTOR'. HENRY A. INTO ATTORNEY United States Patent PLASTIC BOX MAGAZINE WITH A TOP METALLIC CLAMPING MEMBER Henry A. Into, Wallingford, Conn., assignor to Olin Mathieson Qhemical Corporation, a corporation of Virginia Filed May 16, 1967, Ser. No. 638,832

8 Claims. (Cl. 42-50) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A box magazine having a body portion formed from two plastic halves held together at the bottom by a plastic base. A metallic clamping member holds the halves together at the top and includes integral metallic feed lips which extend over the top opening of the body.

This invention relates to a box magazine for firearms. More particularly, it releates to a box magazine in which the majority of parts can be molded from a plastic material and readily assembled at a low cost.

Box magazines for both rim fire and center fire cartridges are conventionally made of metal in a variety of shapes and mechanical designs. All such magazines are comprised of a number of piece parts which required several manufacturing and assembling operations. The various piece parts have to be blanked, formed in several successive operations, spot welded at various locations, heat treated and bound together with tabs and the like. In many instances, the dimensions of the resulting structures are inaccurate, the structure easily deformed out of shape, and expensive to make.

In US. Patent 3,273,275 a substantially all plastic magazine has been proposed. The magazine of the present invention is an improvement on this magazine and includes various advantageous features.

In accordance with this invention, a plastic box magazine can be fabricated from a plurality of plastic piece parts which can be easily molded. However, the feed lips, which also serve to hold the two haives of the body together at the top, are fabricated from a metal stamping to overcome the problem of inadequate strength and rigidity, when such feed lips are integral with the plastic body. The resulting structure of the present invention can be readily assembled and can withstand much abuse without deforming because of the resiliency of the plastic material from which the majority of the magazine is fabricated.

These and other advantages of the magazine of this invention will become apparent by reference to the following description of a preferred embodiment to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a magazine constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional side view taken along the lines 2-2 of FIGURE 1 and showing a cartridge in phantom;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 but showing the cartridge follower and follower spring removed for the purposes of clarity;

FIGURE 4 is an end view of the magazine of this invention;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view of the magazine taken along the lines 55 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along the lines 66 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken along the lines 77 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 8 is a side view of the magazine showing it in a partially assembled condition.

Referring now to the drawings, the magazine of this invention comprises a generally rectangular body 2 3,383,790 Patented May 21, 1968 formed from two half sections 4 and 6 of molded plastic material. Each half section 4 and 6 is a mirror image of the other, except for the fact that one section has a series of holes 8 and the other half section a series of detents 10 in alignment with the holes 8 to properly align the two sections 6 and 8 of the body 2 when assembled together. The body 2 has a generally hollow interior 12 and is open at the top end 14 and bottom end 16. The interior 12 is designed to accommodate a magazine follower 18 which moves longitudinally in the magazine and is urged upwardly by a follower spring 19.

The interior side walls of each half section 4 and 6 of the body 2 of the magazine is provided with a first arcuate groove 20 adjacent the rearward side edge which serves as a guide for the rim of a cartridge. The groove 26 is enlarged at the top end 14 of the body 2 and includes an inclined plane surface 22 for engagement by the rim of the cartridge to urge it upwardly.

A second arcuate groove 24 in each half section 4 and 6 is longitudinally spaced from the first groove 20 and positioned adjacent the forward side edge of the body 2 to provide a guide surface for the magazine follower 18. For this purpose, the magazine follower 18 is provided with integral guide lugs 26 and 27 on one leg 28 thereof which ride in the grooves 20. The follower further includes a top, generally flat, portion 29, for engaging the lowermost cartridge and a second leg portion 30 extending parallel to the first leg portion 28.

A base member 32, also molded from plastic, closes the bottom end 16 of the magazine. The base member 32 includes a bottom wall 34, side walls 36 and 38 and an end wall 40. The interior surface of each of the side walls 36 and 38 are provided with longitudinally extending rails 42 and 44 which are received within longitudinally extending slots 46 and 48 on the outer surface of the side walls of the body 2 of the magazine.

The interior surface of the sides 36 and 38 of the base 32 are provided with vertical grooves 50 and 52 which interlock with ridges 54 and 56 on the outer surface of the body 2 to securely interlock the base 32 and the bottom portion of the half sections 4 and 6 in their assembled position. The shoulder 58 formed by the upper surface of the base 32 limits the extent to which the magazine is inserted in the magazine receiving portion of the firearm.

The outer side Walls of each of the half sections 4 and 6 of the body member are provided with longitudinally extending grooves 59 for the reception of a U-shaped clamping member 60. The clamping member 60 includes a pair of spaced feed lips 62 and 64 which extend over the top surface of the body member 2 at a position rearward of the top of the inclined plane surface 22 of groove 20, as shown particularly in FIGURE 3,. The forward interior side wall 66 of the body 2 adjacent the top edge thereof is also inclined to assist in raising the nose of the cartridge as it is moved forward. The U-shaped clamping member 60 includes inwardly extending detents 68 which interlock with a recess 70 in each of the grooves 59 to securely interlock the clamping member 60 and the top portion of the half sections 4 and 6 in their assembled condition.

Projections 72 and 74 formed on the body 2 cooperate with means in the magazine receiving portion of a firearm to locate and guide the magazine into position and provide abutment surfaces 76 and 78 to lock the magazine in the firearm.

To assemble the magazine, the two half sections 4 and 6 of the body 2 are held together and the clamping member 60 urged into position within its grooves 59 as shown in FIGURE 7 until the detents 68 snap into the recess 70 in the side walls of the body 2. The follower 18 and follower spring 19 are then inserted through the bottom opening 16 guided by the second groove 24.

The base 32 is assembled over the two halves 4 and 6 of the body 2 by aligning the rails 42 and 44 with elongated slots 46 and 48 on each half section 4 and 6 and sliding the base from the solid line position shown in FIGURE 7 to the dotted line position. At the end of the assembly structure the vertical grooves 50 and 52 on the base 32 interlock with the vertical ridges 54 and 56 of each half 4 and 6 of the body 2 to complete the simple assembly. If necessary, the magazine can be disasembled by reversing this procedure.

By virtue of the above-described construction a magazine is provided wherein the majority of parts are fabricated from plastic, except for the metal clamping member and integral feed lips. The metallic feed lips provide the necessary rigidity and strength to resist deformation due to prolonged usage. In addition the follower and follower spring are preferably constructed from metallic material. Moreover, since groove 20 guides and contains the rim of a cartridge, the magazine of the present invention can be used for cartridges of different lengths.

Although reference has been made above to a preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings, various modifications and alterations will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. It is therefore intended that the scope of this invention be ascertained from the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A box magazine including a generally plastic rectangular body portion open at both ends, a metallic member attached to said body portion adjacent one end thereof and including integral metallic feed lips extending over said one end, first cooperating means on said metallic member and said body portion to interlock said metallic member and said body portion when they are in an assembled condition, an end cap closing the other end of said body, second cooperating means on said end cap and said body to interlock said end cap and body when they are in their assembled condition, a follower slidably mounted in said body, and spring means for urging said follower toward said feed lips.

2. The box magazine of claim ll wherein said metallic member comprises a generally U-shaped clamping portion and feed lips integral therewith.

3. The magazine of claim 1 wherein said body portion comprises two sections separated along a longitudinal line and held together in an assembled condition by said metallic member and said end cap.

4. The magazine of claim 3 wherein said body portion has traverse grooves in its outer surface, said metaliic member comprises a generally U-shaped clamping portion disposed in said grooves and integral feed lips, and said first cooperating means comprises a recess in said body member and detents on said clamping portion adapted to be received within said recess when said metallic member and said body portion are in their assembled condition.

5. The magazine of claim 1 wherein the interior of said body portion contains guide means adapted to guide the rim of a cartridge, said guide means including opposed generally longitudinal grooves having a greater width adjacent the one end thereof and terminating in an inclined plane surface.

6. The magazine of claim 5 wherein said feed lips are spaced rearwardly from the termination of said inclined plane surface.

7. The magazine of claim 5 further including cooperat- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,273,275 9/1966 Badali 425O FOREIGN PATENTS 875,222 8/1961 Great Britain.

BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner. 

